Huey Perry grew up along Gilbert Creek in West Virginia's Mingo County
and later taught history in high school there. He seemed safe and sound
enough to local politicians to be selected as director of a new Economic
Opportunity Commission project in 1965 The stated purpose of the program
was to fight poverty in an isolated region of Appalachia, sprinkled with towns
with names like Cinderella Hollow and Magnolia, but inhabited by people
50% of whom were officially classified as poor.